South Padre Island

After my Big Day I was exhausted it lasted long into the night with trying to see the Elf Owl.  Now in real time I am home, I got back in time for mother's day and I hope to be able to get all the posts I want to put up about this Spring Trip posted as quick as I can while my memory is fresh.  So I hope y'all are in the mood.  This is really the last spot I hit strictly for birding.   From here on out it's just what ever bird comes across my path..(and that was LOTS) 

I have done a horrid job with trying to get my birds correctly Identified, my photo's correctly labeled, etc.  I have ID'd some wrong and I hope to eventually get it all corrected.  Trying to go through my Field Guild by lantern light in the van at night was just so not working...now I can do Internet searches etc and try to get them right and please correct me.  I also still use many of the old names for birds and try to find the "current" name if I know it has been changed some I have no clue it's been changed. I'm not just behind the times in one area I'm behind it in all areas. So bear with an old bird while she tries to enjoy her own little birding fantasies. 

By the time I got here, to South Padre Island Birding and Nature Center, I was on my 3rd day in the Rio Grande Valley area I was exhausted dealing with the traffic.  Way too many people on the highways.  It is a beautiful place, they have done a wonderful job of creating a mighty fine place to bird.  It is highly accessible for anyone with mobility issues.  What seems like miles of boardwalk..

...gives great access to the water, the marsh and some of the trees.   But before you reach the boardwalk visit the feeders area where you can see the Baltimore Oriole

I wanted this to be an imm. streaked back oriole but I was told by some others it's an Immature Baltimore either way I've never seen one like this before...

 

I couldn't decide if this bird is a Veery or a Swainson's thrush so I'm going with Swainson's neither is a new to me bird. 

I'm including it because I love the softness of this photo and the bougainvillea in the background is just so colorful!  Hummers were present black chinned, ruby throated, buff bellied...and black bellied whistling ducks were in the water feature up front.  

  

I headed down the boardwalk after tying my hat on, this is NOT my hat..

This will make a good nest box for some bird!  I found along the boardwalk edges...what I believe is the King Rail .  

The largest of the rails, I did see but never got photos of the yellow rail, and the black rail over at McFaddin NWR nearby Sea Rim while there..the little black rail reminded me of a very small black chicken with huge feet!.  They are so small compared, yet this bird is not large.  Most of him disappeared into the grass.  

A Pectoral Sandpiper,  SO I assume its due to the pattern on the chest...I don't know why else this is so named...

with a photobombing dragonfly...

Lots of Common Gallinules or Moorhens strutting around on the marsh also.

 

 

the legs match the face...and here is a White Ibis love the bubble gum pink beak and legs. 

Other waders seen were the Reddish Egret he is always running around like he just smoked something kinky...lol 

Also around were the Roseate Spoonbills with their brilliant pink shoulders and spoonbills.

next is a  preening Tri-colored Heron with his big eye...

I think this boardwalk is one of the Convention Center's this awesome spot is shared by 2 public access places.  I drove over to the convention center...right next door

Painted by artist Wyland in 1994

(the Orca Room) where you can walk on their boardwalks and watch the warblers and song birds enjoy the water and seed. 

Here we have male Rose Breasted Grosbeaks, male and female Blue Grosbeaks, and one Dicksissel in the middle background. 

a Nashville Warbler in the water...

with a female Rose Breasted Grosbeak, an immature Orchard Oriole, and a Blue Grosbeak

A beautiful Indigo Bunting, 

right on the boardwalk the always pumping of that tail, the Louisiana Waterthrush.  

One of my favorite Photo Opts of the day was getting this Scarlet Tanager. 

In almost a clear shot...with only one hand while I answered a mobile phone call with the other don't tell me I can not multitask! 

I wanted to go around again, but I had decided to leave the Lower Rio Grande area for cooler clims, so I had me some driving to do....I had big plans to go to Brownsville and Sabal Palms but put that on the back burner for a maybe trip to Mexico, Que Bueno?? 

So I made myself some lunch and watched the song birds fly in and out of the trees then headed back over the long bridge to the mainland...but on the way I spotted this..

as big as life Kong, along with this long necked dino...

and some very colorful and realistic coral reefs!

Oh Watch OUT doo  do, doo do

I think we def will need a Bigger Boat!!

 ebird list here:

Next stop on my Tour of Texas is Falcon Lake State Park!

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.

Swanquarter

Sunday had me leaving Pettigrew State Park early and by 8 am I was on my way South.  Back on HWY 94.  Before it reaches the Mattamuskeet area again it passes through Pososin Lakes NWR. There is a great number of Black Bear living in this area, but mostly over on the western side in the Pungo Unit, which I did not get to visit.  I stopped at the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway Bridge for a photo.

The view from the top is magnificent but one can not stop and take photos...

SO I snapped this Hail Mary shot, you can get a feel for how breath taking it was...with the Pocosin, the forest, and the Pungo River far below.  I was making tracks because I needed to be home in time to help Mom on Sunday evening as my sister was leaving there about 1, and home was a little over 5 hrs South.  I planned a stop in SwanQuarter.  

There was some interesting roadside things going on like this...

OUCH!

Once off 94 back onto the Abemarle Highway, (264) I headed in a Westerly direction then took a South turn to Swanquarter, a sleepy fishing village just on the edge of the Pamlico Sound.  I would enjoy returning to take the ferry across to the Outer Banks and the Ocracoke Lighthouse.  I did not get to see it when I went to the OBX last summer due to time constaints...the only way there is by ferry.  Maybe I can combo this with my next trip up to Visit Pungo and Alligator NWR. Dramamine will be necessary, actually I use Bonnie, it worked for me last time I needed it. 

The village is built around fishing and by the looks of it hard times have hit! 

The town does not cater to tourism, no galleries, no eateries, no hip saloons.  Going down Main St, Hwy 45, takes you to the Swanquarter Ferry mentioned above.  I stopped in the Park to enjoy the view eat a quick bite and scan with my binoculars.  A couple of birds seen: Blue Jay, Morning Doves, Red -Winged Blackbirds, Grackles, and Eur. Starlings. I didnt see any Swans, I guess its the wrong time of yr for them  Winter is the best time to visit this area as wintering waterfowl come by the thousands...so maybe my next trip up here can be in winter. 


Lunch Spot at the park

Then I entered SwanQuarter NWR

 the road into the Wildlife Refuge,  is a rutted 2 mile dirt track with many wildflowers along the roadside, like Butterfly weed, 

Brown Swallowtail on Butterfly weed

And this,  Hibiscus Moscheutos was blooming all along the drive...

At the end of the road is the Bell Island Fishing per its 1,000 ft long!! 

You can see people way out there...I didnt walk the "Plank" I had to get going! Didn't see many interesting birds,  a few Laughing gulls, one Fosters Tern, many RW Blackbirds, ...quite a vanishing point!  Wish I had hit this at low tide, may have seen some peeps then.

and a peek at the coastline..

I really wished for more time, I could spend the rest of my life exploring this region alone!! SO Much to see.  I like that these areas have been reserved for wildlife and people like me who would otherwise be shut out of these areas if it was developed with McMansions.  NC has done a much better job of protecting its shoreline from over developing than SC has.  

Spotted on the wire this Blue Grosbeak...female

The journey home proved to be a challenge! At Fayetteville, NC on I-95, the traffic came to a complete stop at exit 87. In 45 minutes time I probably moved 15 ft. Since I was sitting directly by an entrance ramp the little dark angel on my shoulder said "get off this interstate it is not going to move! SO I whipped a U-E and went out the inny! And others followed...up on the street I made a right turn,  Wilma was no help finding me an alternate route so out comes my 1995 road atlas and I mapped my way to Lumberton via back roads and got back on I-95 forty miles down the road there.  

I had some challenges on this weekend road trip but I managed to overcome all of them and had a great time full of new experiences!

Time Well Spent!

 

 PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.